The Vine Street Reports are my BLOGs and VLOGs from Vine Street in Monroe, Michigan. They are a mix of social, political and economic news and views from a secular progressive, civil libertarian and social democrat point of view.

I understand why all the Republicans voted against it; they
voted against it because … well, because they are Republicans. But I don’t
understand why 100 Democrats voted against it.

I want to know what part of the Back to Work Budget these
so-called Democrats objected to!

Was it the 7 million new jobs that it would have created in
the first year by investing in infrastructure, education, aid to states, making
work pay, funding emergency unemployment compensation and public works job
programs and aid to distressed communities?

Maybe it was the fair individual tax provision that would
have allowed Bush era tax cuts to expire for families earning over $250 K? The
higher tax rates for millionaire and billionaires (from 45% to 49%)? Or the
provision to tax income from investment the same as income from wages?

It could have been the fair corporate tax provisions that
end corporate tax bias toward moving jobs overseas enact a financial
transactions tax and reduce deduction for corporate jets, meals and
entertainment?

Or was it the reduction in military spending to 2006 levels
and focusing on modern security needs?

Did these Democrats object to the part that protected
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security from benefit cuts? How about the part
that reduced healthcare costs by adopting a public option, negotiating drug
price and reducing fraud?

Don't these Democrats want to protect the environment? Do they object to prices
on carbon pollution with a rebate to hold low income households harmless? Don’t
they want to eliminate corporate tax subsidies for oil, gas and coal companies?

The Progressive Democrat Caucus budget would have reduced
the budget deficit by $4.4 trillion and was projected to increase the GDP by
5.7%; is that what the Democrats objected to?

I just want to know why 100 Democrats thought that the Ryan
Plan was better than Back to Work Plan offered by the Progressive Congressional
Caucus.

Click here for Analysis of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
budget for fiscal year 2014 produced by the EconomicPolicyInstitutePolicyCenter.

About Me

I was born and
raised in rural west-central Michigan
and enjoyed “country living” throughout my young life. My family was a
“his-hers-ours” family, but I don’t ever remember feeling divided. I had a mom,
a dad, three brothers and a sister. I also enjoyed have some extra
grandparents, aunts and uncles.

We always had
animals and a garden. We did chores like milking the cows, cutting wood and
cleaning dishes. We also enjoyed l playing the woods, swimming and making snow
men.

I enjoyed school.
I wasn’t a particularly gifted primary student but as entered my teens I
discovered how much I enjoyed learning. I graduated with honors, was the
honorary science student and senior class president.

The Military Years

After
graduating from high school, I served three terms in the United States Air
Force as a medical laboratory technician and was honorably discharged at the
rank of Technical Sergeant (E-6).

I earned my AS
in Medical Laboratory Technology and a BS in Business Management graduating
magna, cum, laude while serving in the military. I also became credentialed by
the HEW as a certified Clinical Laboratory Technologist.

I also became
interested in computers while I was in the military. I took some college
courses toward a degree but the program was dropped by the college before I
could complete it. I taught myself how to write fairly complicated programs on
a VIC-20, upgraded to a Commodore-64 and was a member of a computer user group.

I got a bit of
the sales bug while I was in the military and the dream of being my own boss. I
sold for Amway but never got a check bigger than $26. I got my real estate
sales license and sold real estate for a while before realizing that a
full-time military guy just can’t also be a realtor.

My Life on the Plains

After
discharge, I managed a small, rural Nebraska
hospital's diagnostic services department performing general laboratory,
limited radiologic and basic EKG procedures for seven years. I obtained a
Limited Radiographic Operator license and completed a series of seminars in
supervision and management.

While living in
Nebraska I
tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to launch a home-based business. I
still had it in my head to be my own bass and work from home. I sold nutrition products,
I sold magnetic health products, I sold long distance phone cards, I sold
bottled water, I sold custom-built home PCs and upgrades, I sold home
preparedness supplies and books about natural health online, I sold bottled
water and finally I sold health and life insurance. Others got rich and I went
broke!

The Republic
of Texas

In the year
2000, I made a career move to software sales and moved my family to the north Dallas, Texas area.
I got in more because of who I knew than what I knew. My friend knew me and
knew I had an aptitude for technology and business. I learned fast and I was
good at what I did. These were Camelot years of employment, I enjoyed my work
and was well paid and I lost the desire to be my own boss.

I started out
in pre-sales for a company with a tall, luxury, office building that got bought
out and eventually closed its offices and sold the building. I moved into a
sales seat for another company in Kansas City
and worked from home in Dallas
just ahead of the division closing. The
software bubble burst, I was let go and the division I worked for was spun off.
I found myself scrambling for employment with to to few years of work
experience in software to stay in that industry.

Software sales
was a good experience and I got some excellent technical training. I knew a
little bit about PCs but I learned about the higher end of computer technology.
Also I got some great training in complex sales including much coveted training
by Miller-Hieman in Strategic Selling, Strategic Analysis & Conceptual
Selling, and Sales Call Planning.

Then the
software bubble burst, I was let go and the division I worked for was spun off.
I found myself scrambling for employment with too few years of work experience
in software to stay in that industry.

Coming Home to Michigan

I found work as
a clinical service engineer providing field service to laboratory instrument
and moved to southeast Michigan
in early 2003. I was good at what I did and enjoyed the work almost a year to
the day after hiring me they let me go. Then the region I was in downsized and
merged with a neighboring region.

Since then, I
have been an assembler, a security guard and a route sales manager. Getting and
keeping a job of any kind seems to be a loosing proposition. Instead of being
upwardly mobile, I have been downwardly mobile. I’ve learned some interesting
lessons along the way.

My wife found
part-time work in a deli when I lost the last good job. She works hard, is
poorly paid, and her hours and benefits are unreliable. When I had a job, her
income almost kept our head above water.

Not Employment

I have been not
employed for several years now. There is a big difference between not employed
and unemployed. If you are unemployed, you get paid unemployment and you hope
to find work soon. I haven’t been either of those two things.

I have been a
part-time, stay-at-home dad and a part-time political activist for a couple
years now. I was employed briefly as a field organizer in the months leading up
to the 2012 general election. Paid or unpaid, this is what I do now, but I am
hoping to be paid to do it in the future.

The Family

My wife and I
have a family of six children. I met and married my wife while serving in the
in the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio and we had our first three children
there.

Our eldest
daughter graduated magna from Eastern
Michigan University
with a BS in Journalism. She is now married and lives in south-central Nebraska with her
husband. She enjoys gardening, cooking and travelling. She works at a school
and is taking additional classes to qualify as a substitute teacher.

Our eldest son
struggled in college but completed a technical program. He lives with us at
home and works in fast food. He enjoys gaming (interactive role-play and
computer-based).

The third child
is a daughter and completed her AS in Graphic Arts at the local community
college. She is now married and lives in northern California. She enjoys gardening, art and
dance.

Our next two
daughters were born at a hospital in central Nebraska
and our youngest son was born at home in south-central Nebraska.

The fourth
child, another daughter, has just left home to go to school at University of Toledo with the lofty goal of becoming s
surgeon. Her undergraduate degree program is in Bioengineering. She has a
boyfriend and enjoys Dagorhir.

The fifth
child, yet another daughter, just turned 18 and plans to start college this
fall at the local community college. She enjoys reading, writing and gaming.

The youngest
son is now 13 and enjoys reading and gaming.

All of our
children have been home schooled since moving to Texas.

Religion

We were once
active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but are now
confirmed atheists although I prefer to think of myself as a secular humanist. Theist
I ain’t, humanist I are.

I still cherish
the experience of having been a Mormon and think well of the church community.
Sometimes I tell people that I am a Mormon Atheist, because I feel the historic
and cultural connection. I was happy as
a member and only left the church because I no longer believe that its founder,
Joseph Smith, was a prophet; that the Book of Mormon is the word of God; or
that church is the church
of Jesus Christ.

There is
something about discovering that you have been terribly wrong about something
like your religious beliefs that makes you more introspective and
self-critical. I began to reexamine many of my strongly held beliefs to see
what other things I might be wrong about. I also began reexamining the
remaining religious beliefs to see if they withstood serious scrutiny.

At first I
regarded myself as agnostic or “not knowing”. I determined that I should
reserve what I “believe” for what was “known” or at the very least “knowable”.
The more you know about the Bible story, the credible it becomes until one day
it become incredible and you stop believing it. The other stories are no
better.

“Extraordinary
claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without
evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.” ~Christopher Hitchens

Politics

I used to be a
Libertarian (with a big “L”) and was very active in the Party serving briefly
as a county Chair in Denton County, Texas and on state executive committees,
first in Texas and then in Michigan. I was even a Libertarian candidate for
State Board of Education twice.

I still regard
myself as a civil libertarian but I also regard myself as a social democrat and
I am now very active in the Democratic Party. Without getting too political
here, I think what moved me away from my old position was the realization that
the human condition is largely a social condition. The high quality of life
that we enjoy individually is the fruit of a high degree of collective effort
and cooperation.

Also, that the
Libertarian position is so strongly connected to the concept of individual
property ownership that it makes no exception for our shared interest in what
is best described as the “commons”. I credit a young member of the Green Party
with helping me discover the cracks in the Libertarian wall.

I am currently
the Chapter Leader of Progressive Democrats of Monroe
and a member of the Monroe County Democratic Executive Committee.

Concerned About the Future

My greatest
concern for our future and the future of humankind centers on the problems of
debt-based money, overpopulation, overconsumption, rapidly depleting reserves
of coal, oil, metals and minerals and global climate change.

I have lived
through the latter half of the Age of Oil and I expect to live long enough to
see the turmoil of an overpopulated planet earth scrambling to secure the last
of the fossil fuel. I expect to see cold and hunger before I die. And I can't
help but wonder when our normally peaceful human family will begin to recognize
the size, scope and inevitability of the problem. Then comes the violence.

The Present

One of the most
destructive behaviors has to be living for future instead of living in the
present. It may be prudent to plan for a hopeful future or even to take action
to mitigate problems anticipated in a difficult future, but however one imagines the
future, there is no reason not to cherish the moment that is called “now”.